Wednesday, March 02, 2016

A LONG TIME BLOG READER DROPS AROUND & CLEANS OUR MOTORHOME’S ‘MASS AIR FLOW SENSOR’

Faint odor of a Skunk first thing this morning so I checked around outside with a flashlight before letting Pheebs out. We do think we may very well have a Skunk or two under the house & yes I did tell the prospective new owners about that a few days ago.

Last March after leaving Congress & heading home through Utah & Colorado we experienced problems with our Motorhome’s engine light coming on & each time it did the engine began running rough & we had to pull over & stop. Readers wrote in with thoughts on what could be wrong & suggested possible solutions. We did have the rig checked over twice but mechanics couldn’t seem to find the source of the problem. Happened again coming down last fall north of Flagstaff & again a month ago coming back from Yuma. A few days ago we received an email from one of our concerned readers saying he was in the area & would we like him to come over & have a look at the ‘Mass Air Flow Sensor’ in our rig. Chris, a long time blog reader was one of the guys a year ago emailing us trying to help with our Motorhome problem. Sarge had just dropped in for a chat on his way to the Post Office this morning when a gray Jeep Rubicon pulled into our front yard. It was Chris & his wife Rosemary or was it Rosemarie…..oh-oh I could be in trouble here.

CHRIS & ROSEMARY ARE WINTER SNOW BIRDS FROM ILLINOIS

Chris is one of those mechanical do it yourselfer guys & he was suspecting a problem with our rigs mass air flow sensor because he had the same troubles with his Motorhome awhile back. He wasn’t long in locating & pointing out the Sensor attached to the back of the air filter in alongside the passenger side front wheel. Didn’t take him long to wiggle his way under the Motorhome’s front end & disassemble the sensor. Seemed a bit dirty but not plugged. Using a can of mass air flow sensor spray he cleaned it all up & reassembled it. He also checked the air filter while he was at it & the filter was clean.

THAT LARGE TUBE LOOKING AFFAIR TOP RIGHT IS THE MASS AIR FLOW SENSOR

CRAMPED QUARTERS IN THERE AHEAD OF THAT FRONT WHEEL

DETACHED FROM AIR FILTER AT RIGHT CHRIS PULLS OUT THE MASS AIR FLOW SENSOR

AND THAT ROUND BLACK THING IS THE ACTUAL SENSOR WHICH HE CLEANED WITH A SPRAY CAN OF MASS SENSOR CLEANER

BEHIND THAT SCREEN ARE A SERIES OF SMALL SENSORS & CHRIS EXPLAINED & SHOWED ME EVERYTHING HE WAS DOING AS HE WENT ALONG SO IT WAS DEFINITELY A LEARNING EXPERIENCE FOR ME

TAPING UP WIRES LEADING TO THE SENSOR

BACKING OUT FROM UNDER THE RIG

Chris read the codes with his code reader as well & cancelled out the red engine light that had come on again a month ago. The error code readings were exactly the same ones we always get. Also under the rig he pointed out to me where the two O2 sensors are located on the exhaust pipes. If the Mass Air Flow Sensor cleaning doesn’t solve the problem our next step will be to have those 02 sensors replaced. Chris also taped up a set of wires leading into the sensor that were looking a bit sketchy as well.

Both Kelly & I thought that was so nice of him to take time out of his day to come around & do that for us this morning. What a nice couple they were & I’m sure our paths will cross again somewhere out here in this wild & wooly South-west next winter. They are boon-dockers like ourselves & are camped out near Vulture Peak for a few days. Thanks for dropping around guys & doing that for us this morning. Very much appreciated:)))))

CHRIS SAID FOR ME TO CRAWL UNDER THE RIG & I WAS HOPING i WOULDN’T HAVE ANY VERTIGO PROBLEMS…AND I DIDN’T:))

OF COURSE PHEEBS IS ALWAYS NEAR BY READY TO HELP AS WELL

CHRIS CRAWS UNDER AS WELL TO SHOW ME EXACTLY WHERE THE 02 SENSOR WAS

YES THE PHRASE “HELP I’VE FALLEN & I CAN’T GET UP” CAME TO MIND WHEN I SAW THIS PICTURE

Don’t even ask me if we watched all that Super Tuesday political hoopla on TV last night because I’m not going to admit we did. Not what I would call time well spent but there we were watching it anyway. Nuff said about that!!

THE GALS HAD THEMSELVES QUITE A CHAT WHILE CHRIS & HIS HANDY FLASH LIGHT HOLDING ASSISTANT WORKED ON THE MASS SENSOR PROBLEM… CHRIS DID THE WORK WHILE I ADEPTLY HELD THE FLASHLIGHT

Thanks to the Guest in my posts Shout-Box for tracking down our marriage date. Must have used a key word or two in our ‘Search’ bar. Neither Kelly or I had thought of doing that. The form at the Title Company Tuesday morning that asked for our marriage date had to do with the IRS regarding tax. Another Shout-Box Guest wondered where we got married so here’s the story. Long time readers know Kelly & I are not big ‘people’ people & our wedding day was very typical of our lifestyle. We never told anybody about our getting married, not even closest friends or family. At the time I was looking after the grounds on an estate outside of St. Marys Ontario owned by Shakespearian Actress Pat Galloway & her husband Bernhard. Just the nicest older couple. It was May of 2002 when Kelly I decided on getting married. Pat & Bernhard were still at their Villa in Spain so we decided to get married in their back yard near St. Marys. For best man & bridesmaid we asked an elderly couple we knew living near Pat & Bernhards & they were happy to come over & do that for us. Found us one of those Minister fellas in St. Marys & he drove the few miles out of town to marry us in Pat & Bernhard’s back yard under an arched trellis. Only 5 of us there & I think it was a Saturday which I remember as being cloudy, cold, & windy. I think from the time we all met to the time everybody was on their way back home again was well less than an hour. No fuss, no muss, no bother & we still prefer keeping our lives that way to this very day. Well, with the exception of Mr. Blabberfinger’s ‘tell all’ blog that is……………….

Turned out to be a hot one today & we had fans running. Hotter on Thursday. Pheebs & I will be out the door early in the cool morning air for a relaxing Jeep ride. Last time we were out I think was last Saturday & we’re both showing signs of withdrawal so we had better get some fresh air blowing through the windows right quick. We are in desperate need of some outdoor scenery.

SO NICE TO SEE OUR BACKYARD MESQUITE TREES FINALLY GREENING UP

I think Kelly & I both have a wee case of mental exhaustion with so many things going on at the moment. Kelly was especially worn out this afternoon. We both just want the next few weeks to be over so we can turn the page & get on with the next phase of our lives. I think you full-timers out here might understand that if you thought back to the time you sold your house & had all those things to do before you closed the door for the last time, hopped into your rig, & headed on down the road………………

GROANER’S CORNER:(( A Senator is in a restaurant and the waiter brings over the rolls, but no butter. "May I have some butter, please?" The waiter gives a slight nod and wanders off. Ten minutes later, still no butter. The senator catches his eye. "May I have some butter, Please?" Still the vaguest of responses, and after ten more minutes, still no butter. "Maybe you don't know who I am," says the senator. "I'm a Princeton graduate, a Rhodes scholar, an All-American basketball player who played with the New York Knicks in the pros, and I'm currently a United States senator, chairman of the International Debt Subcommittee of the Senate Finance Committee, chairman of the Water and Power Subcommittee of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and a member of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee." "Maybe you don't know who I am," said the waiter. "I'm the guy who's in charge of the butter".

Being Canadian, you are not required to watch all the election stuff like my wife Merikay feels she has to. I tell her too much CNN will make her crazy, but my words don't seem to have much effect. :-)

Sure hope Chris' fix does the trick, and if not at least you have another one to try - what a great guy to come take care of it for you! Too funny that a reader also found your wedding date for you!! You have quite the little community here :-) Exciting times, but definitely exhausting just getting to all come together.

AL'S CAMERA EQUIPMENT

A sometimes asked question readers have about my blog is what kind of a camera do I use. Well I have 8 of them and use them all. Five Nikon DSLR's, two quality Sony point and shoots plus one older Canon point and shoot.

'UPDATE':: July 2017 Thanks to a very generous blog reader I have been able to update my Nikon camera equipment and supplement my camera gear with a couple additional fine Sony cameras as well.I now have a 'donated' Nikon D7200 sporting my new Nikkor 18-300 3.5 zoom lens. Also have picked up a new Nikkor 1.8 primary 35mm lens. In addition I also now have a Sony RX100-3 camera as well as a Sony Exmore Cybershot. I have given my Canon Powershot point and shoot camera to a neighbor.

- In early 2017 I replaced my Nikon D-90 camera with a new D-3400 after the 'auto focus' feature on my aging D-90 quit working. The Nikon D-90 had been my work horse camera sporting a Nikkor 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 lens. I used this camera for most of my landscapes and I now have it set up for night photography where 'auto focus' is not necessary.

-My older faithful and favorite Nikon D-40 finally packed it in during the summer of 2015 and I replaced it with a new Nikon D-3100.

- Previous to my Nikon D-90, most of my photos were taken with my old faithful Nikon D-50 from 2006 to early 2011 whereupon the D-50 suffered a rather gruesome death when it fell off a table onto a cement porch in southeastern Arizona. The 70-300mm lens on the camera survived the fall but the D-50 did not. My Nikkor lenses are interchangable between the D-90 the D-3100 and the D-3400.